Offshore staff
HOUSTON – In a final trial court judgement, the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas has ordered W&T Offshore Inc. to pay Apache Corp. $43.2 million, plus $4.4 million in prejudgment interest, attorney’s fees, and costs.
According to W&T, the judgment stems from lawsuit that Apache filed in December 2014 regarding a dispute about Apache’s use of drilling rigs instead of a previously contracted intervention vessel for the P&A of threedeepwater wells in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico.
W&T contends that the costs to use the drilling rigs were unnecessary and unreasonable but that Apache chose to use the rigs without W&T’s consent because they otherwise would have been idle at Apache’s expense.
“W&T believes the use of the rigs was in bad faith, as found by the jury, and in breach of the applicable joint operating agreement, particularly since another vessel had been contracted by Apache for the abandonment a year in advance. W&T had previously paid $24.9 million as an undisputed amount for the plug and abandonment work,” the company said in a statement.
Chairman and CEO Tracy W. Krohn said: “W&T is disappointed in the judgment signed by the district court and believes that it is contrary to the applicable law given the jury’s finding in October 2016 that Apache acted in bad faith. W&T said is considering its options, including post judgment motions and appeal.”
06/02/2017
